Numerous types of electrical devices are portable, such as, for example, cellular (or mobile) telephones, laptop computers, audio playback devices, AM (amplitude modulated) and FM (frequency modulated) radios, CD (compact disk) players, and media (e.g., MP3 (MPEG Audio Layer-3)) players. The terms “electrical device” and “media device” should be broadly understood and include electrical devices of all types and designs (e.g., media players, telephones, audio-visual media players, and devices incorporating media players, telephones, and/or audio-visual devices).
There are many portable electrical devices available, including those manufactured by Sony Corp., Philips Corp., Audiovox Corp., Microsoft Corp. (e.g., the Zune™ MP3 player), and Apple Computer, Inc. (e.g., iPod® MP3 player and iPhone™ device). These electrical devices rely on batteries for their portability and typically utilize headsets, ear phones, or a small built-in speaker for user listening. Battery life is sometimes a problem. After a few hours of usage, most of these electrical devices need an alternate power source, need to be charged, or need to have their batteries replaced. Another limitation is that these electrical devices typically play sound for only one listener at a time (e.g., via headset or ear phones). Even if the electrical device is equipped with a speaker, the device's small size and light-weight design limit the size of the speaker, which tends to make the speaker inadequate for transmitting music to a group of people, e.g., in a vehicle.
Electrical accessories that attempt to overcome these limitations are available, for example, units to supply power to the electrical devices for operation and/or charging and FM transmission systems. An FM transmission system when used in conjunction with electrical devices allows the user to play music files stored on the electrical devices through an FM audio system so that one can listen and allow others to listen to the stored music. However, current FM transmission systems are often unstable and provide weak FM signals, which can result in loss of signal or constant static hiss in the background. In such known FM transmission systems, the FM signal strength is sometimes weakened or lost because of inefficient antenna design (e.g., concerning its size, shape, and/or location).
Another common problem with electrical devices is that these electrical accessories are designed to work with only a limited set of the capabilities of the electrical devices. For examples, many electrical accessories can receive audio (e.g., audio files) from the electrical devices but are not integrated with the other features (e.g., telephonic features) of the electrical device.
Accordingly, a need exists for an apparatus or accessory that allows a user to easily utilize the full breath of capabilities of electrical device that include media players, telephones, and/or audio-visual devices.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and descriptions and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention. The same reference numerals in different figures denote the same elements.
The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable tinder appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms “include,” and “have,” and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus that includes a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus.
The terms “left,” “right,” “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” “over,” “under,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
The terms “couple,” “coupled,” “couples,” “coupling,” and the like should be broadly understood and refer to connecting two or more elements or signals, electrically, mechanically and/or otherwise. Two or more electrical elements may be electrically coupled but not be mechanically or otherwise coupled; two or more mechanical elements may be mechanically coupled, but not be electrically or otherwise coupled; two or more electrical elements may be mechanically coupled, but not be electrically or otherwise coupled. Coupling may be for any length of time, e.g., permanent or semi-permanent or only for an instant.
“Electrical coupling” and the like should be broadly understood and include coupling involving any electrical signal, whether a power signal, a data signal, and/or other types or combinations of electrical signals. “Mechanical coupling” and the like should be broadly understood and include mechanical coupling of all types.
The absence of the word “removably,” “removable,” and the like near the word “coupled,” and the like does not mean that the coupling, etc. in question is or is not removable.